Welcome to the new version of European Tribune. It's just a new layout, so everything should work as before - please report bugs here.
Display:
Consider UK Plc: it's the only Plc with no "Equity" on the balance sheet, and with accounts which show a debt, but not the assets they are secured against.

As the risk of government default is almost by definition [or in theory] negligible, government debt doesn't need to be secured, does it?

Bush is a symptom, not the disease.

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Apr 29th, 2007 at 05:21:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Governement debt is by definition secured against the whole country - that's why, with the sole exception of Gasprom, no company has a higher rating that the country it resides in.

Of course, there is then the issue of government being acually willing to reimburse its creditors, which affect the state rating.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Sun Apr 29th, 2007 at 07:53:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Corporate debt is always less secure than a government's, because governments have the power to forbid companies in their country to pay their debts - both to external creditors (as the multiple debt crises and convertibility/transferability restrictions have shown) or even to internal creditors (the major innovation of the Russian moratorium in 1998.

Gazprom had a better rating than Russia when it was using its gas export contracts as collateral, because the only way it could default on that debt was to stop delivering gas, a much more violent step nowadays, diplomatically, than just defaulting on payments.

That's why we were happy to lend money to Gazprom, effectively taking Gaz de France risk while being paid margins sized on Russian risk (then - Russian risk today pays very little). Ah, good ol' times...

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Mon Apr 30th, 2007 at 09:06:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:

Top Diaries

Pentecost steam

by DoDo - May 23
39 comments

A Nomad's Life (A Farewell)

by Nomad - May 10
14 comments

Simple Solar Principles

by gmoke - May 17
2 comments

Rail News Blogging #24

by DoDo - May 12
11 comments

Ferguson hates on Keynes

by Migeru - May 6
100 comments

Occasional Series